C&S563--#8
Skills in Conferencing
and Data Collection
Part 1 in the Cycle:
Establishing Readiness
• Building an understanding of the process
• Developing a trusting relationship
• Understanding the teacher’s espoused
platform
What is an espoused platform?
• The teacher’s beliefs and goals about
teaching, learning, and students applied
directly to his/her specific teaching
situation. This verbalized platform may or
may not match the teacher’s platform “in
use.”
When does a teacher articulate
an espoused platform?
• Should be discussed in a conference setting.
• Should include the following dialogue:
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Important goals for student learning
Criteria for good (effective teaching)
Beliefs about subject matter
Influence of the specific context
Purpose and Rationale for
Espoused Platform Dialogue
• Helps the supervisor or coach establish a clear
understanding of the teacher’s beliefs
• Allows the supervisor or coach to view the
classroom events from the teacher’s perspective
• Allows comparison of espoused platform to actual
behavior
• Helps teacher to articulate and examine more
closely his/her beliefs and goals
Sample Questions for an
Espoused Platform Conference
• If you were forced to choose, what would you say are the 3 most
important things which you want students to learn in your classroom?
• Five years after students have left your classroom, what do you want
them to say about you? about your teaching? about your subject?
• Why should students study and learn the content you teach?
• What sorts of things do you look for to tell you that you’ve taught a
really good lesson? a poor lesson?
• Describe in general terms the students you teach.
• If you had the power to change one thing about your students in
general, what would you change?
• What should I know about your specific situation that will help me as
an observer to get a clearer understanding of what is going on in your
classroom?
Part 2 in the Cycle:
Pre-Conference
• Understanding the teacher’s intention for
this specific occasion
• Agreeing on a focus for collecting data and
how to use it
Pre-Conference
• Meeting between the teacher and the
supervisor/coach before an observation or
other form of data collection in order to
make sure that both partners understand
what the lesson will be like and what data
are going to be collected.
A. To get a clear understanding of the
overall lesson (fluency)
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What are the goals?
What activities will take place?
What will the students be doing?
What will the teacher be doing?
How does the lesson fit into past and future lessons?
– How does the lesson relate to the teacher’s espoused
platform?
– Rehearse parts of the lesson in detail if necessary.
B. To help the teacher discern
the data to collect (contract)
– What question is the teacher trying to answer?
– Why is this question important?
– What observable behaviors are we interested
in? (make sure you understand what these
behaviors look like/sound like)
– What will the data tell us?
– What should we expect the data to look like?
– Where will we go once we have these data?
C. To become clear on the logistics
of data collection (rehearsal)
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When will we do this?
Where?
Who does what?
Where do I sit?
What equipment do we need if any?
Sample Pre-Conference
Questions
• What is the purpose of today’s lesson?
• What will the students know or be able to do at
the end of the lesson?
• What strategies will you use to accomplish your
objective?
• What teacher behaviors will you demonstrate?
• What led up to this lesson? What prior knowledge
will you be asking students to assess?
• What is your data collection preference?
• Do you have any concerns about this lesson?
Part 3 in the Cycle:
Data Collection
– This part of the cycle includes observing and/or
collecting data that have been agreed upon
between supervisor or coach and teacher.
Pat 4 in the Cycle:
Analysis and Strategy
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Interpret the information found in the data
Display the data in an understandable form
Focus on impact on learners
Decide on goals and strategies for the postconference
Part 5 in the Cycle:
Post-Conference
– Discuss interpretations of data
– Discuss impact of instruction on learners
– Decide on future goals
Some General principles for
Post-Conferences
• A. Fewness
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Focus on 1 or 2 areas.
People can’t change everything at once.
People can’t understand everything at once.
What is the the most important thing tha tneeds
to be the focus?
• B. Goals:
– Product: Refers to the teacher’s teaching
behavior and thinking about teaching. What
teaching behaviors do we want to change? to
reinforce? What thinking do we want to
change? to reinforce?
– Process: Refers to the role which the teacher
can take in analyzing his or her own behavior
• C. Data Driven
– Allows the teacher to take a more objective
look at what occurred.
– Provides an opportunity for the teacher to make
decisions and judgments.
• D. Related to the espoused platform
– Helps the teacher see connections between his
or her articulated beliefs and goals and actual
practice.
– Caveat: Sometimes the connection cannot be
made. Decide in planning session if a
connection can be made or not.
• E. Aimed at teacher thinking
– Helps teacher think in more productive and
powerful ways.
– Changing teacher behavior without changing
his or her thinking is not likely to result in longterm change.
Some Questions to Ask in
Planning a Post-Conference
• How can I present the data so it will make sense and be
easy to interpret?
• What one or two areas do I want to focus on?
• What are my product goals?
• What are my process goals--how much help or modeling
will the teacher need to make appropriate decisions during
the conference?
• Does what I’ve seen in this lesson relate to the teacher’s
espoused platform? If so, how?
• What questions can I ask to get at the teacher’s thinking
about teaching?
Sample Post-Conference
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What do you recall the students doing?
What do you recall about your own behavior?
How did the student behavior compare to what you expected?
How did your own behavior compare to what you had
planned?
Did you accomplish the purpose of the lesson?
(Probe…Present Data)
What will you do differently/ same in the future lessons?
Would you like me to give you some feedback about the
process? What did I do that was useful? What did I do that
go in the way of your learning or thinking?
Part 6 in the Cycle:
Cycle Evaluation
• Assessment of the utility of the cycle
• Assessment of the roles each partner played
• Deciding on future directions
Global or Wide Lens Techiques:
Script Taping (Hunter)
« A word for word record of the verbal
interaction which occurs during a lesson.
« Supplemented when possible by notes
concerning the nonverbal behaviors and
contextual factors.
« Often accompanied by a time line.
Quick Tips for Script Taking
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Develop a good system of abbreviations.
Use a time line down the side of the paper.
Number your pages.
Draw a horizontal line in between activities to separate
them and record the time when activities changed.
Bring more than one pen (multi-colored pen).
Draw a line across the page to show if you took a break.
Record as much as possible to get the essence if you can’t
get exact words.
Practice! Practice! Practice!
Global or Wide Angle Lens:
Anecdotal Note Taking
« Taking notes concerning various activities,
interactions, contextual events.
« May include direct quotes, paraphrases,
descriptions of teacher or student behavior.
« Similar to field notes in a qualitative study.
« Often accompanied by a time line.
Selective Verbatim
– A word-for-word record of some selected
aspect of verbal interaction.
– Examples include teacher questions, student
questions, directions, reprimands, etc.
– Purpose is to record the content of the verbal
communication.
Interaction Analysis:
People Interactions
• Teacher-student or student-student.
• Record of the verbal (most often) or
nonverbal interactions between people.
– praise, directions, criticism, etc.
• Emphasis on the quantity as opposed to
substance of interactions.
Interaction Analysis:
Whole Class Verbal Flow
• Similar to selective verbatim in that both techniques
deal with classroom verbal behavior.
• Record of the sequence of verbal interactions
between teacher and entire class using agreed upon
categories to code the interactions.
• Example: TS (teacher statement)
TQ (teacher question)
Interaction Analysis:
Frequency Counts
• Counting the number of times a selected
behavior occurs.
• For example, smiles, praises, higher-order
thinking questions, etc.
At-Task
• AKA student engagement and time on task.
• Observer systematically notes the behavior of each
student at regular intervals.
• Behavior categories are agreed upon by supervisor
and teacher in planning conference.
• Categories might be “doing assigned work” of
“talking to neighbor.”
• High inference record of student behaviors at
various times during a lesson.
Traffic Flow
• Using seating charts and arrows to indicate
student or teacher movement during an
activity or lesson.
Other Data-Collection
Techniques
• Electronic Media
– Audio tapes of verbal
interactions
– Video tapes
• Alternative Data
Sources
– Student work or
products
– Student interviews
– Student surveys
– Teacher artifacts
– Teacher journals
Types of Feedback
Observations
• Descriptions of
observable behaviors
– Mary raised her hand
twice.
Types of Feedback:
Inferences
• Interpreting what
people are thinking or
feeling on the basis of
their observable
behavior.
– From the frown on
Ted’s face, I’d say he
was disappointed with
your response to his
question.
Types of Feedback:
Judgments
• Opinions, decisions,
conclusions about the
inherent value of our
effectiveness of
behavior.
– All good lessons must
include checking for
understanding. This
element was missing
from your lesson.
Active Listening Skills
• Non-Verbal
• Verbal
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Eye Contact
Empathetic facial expressions
Nodding
Proximity
Leaning Towards
Body open and square
Mirroring
Note taking
No extraneous activities
Same plane
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One person speaking at a time
Rephrasing
Asking probing questions
Empathetic voice tone and
inflection
Encouraging and empathetic
sounds (uh huh)
Silence
Paraphrasing
“What if”